Teams have 40 seconds between plays to snap the ball before getting flagged for delay of game.

But play-callers have much less time than that. They need to quickly decide on the next play, because they must allow enough time to relay it to the quarterback, who in turn conveys it to his teammates in the huddle or at the line of scrimmage.

When the 40-second play clock resets, Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett scans his chart for the best play in that particular situation. "All I know is I want to get the play in quickly," he says. "I want to let Tony (Romo, Dallas' quarterback) call the play, break the huddle and have some time at the line of scrimmage."

The helmet's transmitter shuts off after 15 seconds. While some coaches might use all the time to bombard a quarterback with tips and reminders, Garrett prefers to keep things low-key. "I used to call in the plays (in Dallas), and Troy Aikman was our quarterback," says Garrett, Aikman's backup from 1993 to 1999.

But Garrett knew the Hall of Famer didn't want any extra verbiage. "It was a little bit like, 'Just give me the play. I got the rest of it.'

"With Tony, I want to be very limited in my contributions beyond calling the play. That probably comes from my perspective of playing quarterback. I'd like to think that, through our preparation during the week, he understands why this play is coming in. Occasionally, I'll give him a situational reminder, but I really try to keep those very limited and let him play.

"I had experiences as a player where the coach sometimes says something into your ear and, all of a sudden, that becomes your foremost thought instead of all the things you've been preparing for during the week."

Before 1994, when the NFL first allowed modern helmet radios, teams used hand signals to relay the play from the sideline.

But even though the radios make it easier to get a play onto the field, they have their drawbacks. "They're not just giving you the plays now," ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Ron Jaworski says. "They're walking you through the play."

When he was the offensive coordinator in Denver, Kubiak remembers talking to quarterback John Elway while he was in the huddle. "And he shoots me the bird — like, 'Shut up!'

"You want to make sure that guy talking to the quarterback gives good information, but … you don't want to be a nuisance. You don't want to be wearing him out.

"There's a fine line there."

Some quarterbacks crave the extra feedback and details.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden is one of the big radio talkers. CBS analyst Rich Gannon, who played for Gruden in Oakland, loved the direct communication. "He'd talk me through every situation," Gannon says. " 'Look, it's second-and-12 here,' he might say. 'I'm expecting blitz. If I don't get it, help me out and get me to a weakside run.' "

Gruden would also give Gannon tips for other players. "He knew what players needed certain types of reminders because he had seen it all week in practice. He'd remember that Jerry Rice, maybe, was too tight on a split. So he'd tell me, 'Hey, remember to tell Jerry to get outside the numbers.' It was phenomenal.

"Now, some quarterbacks can't handle that talking. It could be too much information. But I liked it."

When Gruden left for Tampa Bay in 2002, Gannon played first for Bill Callahan (2002-03) in Oakland and then Norv Turner (2004).

But even under Turner, one of the most respected offensive minds in the game, Gannon felt uncomfortable at times, partly because he missed Gruden's direct line of communication. Turner didn't always sit in on the quarterbacks meeting during the week, when Gannon wanted to pepper him with questions. He'd know Turner's top two or three calls on third-and-2 or third-and-4. But he didn't know why. What was Turner's thought process? What was he anticipating?

"So what happened on game days was Norv would call the plays to (quarterbacks coach) Steve Sarkisian, and Sarkisian would call them in to me," Gannon says. "That's when I realized I missed that direct interaction. I wanted to hear it from Norv's mouth. Not that Steve Sarkisian didn't do a good job, but it took an extra five seconds. It was five extra seconds I didn't have at the line of scrimmage.

"From a guy who prided himself — who always had all the answers at the line of scrimmage — now you take away four or five seconds, that hurts my effectiveness. It hurts my ability to communicate to players at the line of scrimmage, to give them a heads up, reminders, tips. It gives me less time to audible, to hand signal. I'm not saying you can't succeed in that system, but you can't deny that losing four or five seconds is significant."

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